The Reentry Process of Adolescents

The authors have been able to follow up on a number of residents over the years. Most of them have frequently referred to the helpfulness of the seminars during their reentry phase. Some have sought out private counseling once they felt problems cropping up. While there is no abundance of jobs awaiting the adolescent graduate, they must be prepared to the best of their, and the TC's, ability to confront the world. TCs need to provide them with the ability and skills to cope with the many realities they will be called on to face. A serious review of the adolescent TC process is called for, with greater emphasis on teaching, training and role modeling. TCs need to evolve more skill-training seminars in conjunction with community agencies and resources. Further training of TC staff is needed to strengthen their vulnerabilities and understand their own relationships with adolescent clients. Too many have lost touch with what it was like to be a frightened young adult. Unless more serious attention is paid to adolescent reentry candidates, TCs will find themselves being criticized for turning out incomplete graduates: graduates whose lifestyles have been behaviorally modified, but whose impoverished value systems have not been attended to. One without the other is programming clients for eventual recidivism and TCs for failure.